The Hunt For Azoth
by Master Xanat
Summary: A young Cubone, who is a member of the Travail Guild, finds herself caught in the middle of a hunt for a legendary artifact.
1. The Travail Guild

**My first two multi-chapter stories were complete failures. However, for a while now, I have been wanting to try my skills at writing again. Hopefully, this story will not go down the same path its predecessors did.**

I was awoken by a slight morning breeze coming through the window of my room. I sat up, blinked the sleep out of my eyes, and got up to look out the hole in the hard stone wall; I could see that the sun was just rising over the mountains off in the distance. The dim light fell across two other forms in the room, one being a Ledian while the other was a Vulpix. Both were sound asleep. My two roommates were known as Leiko and Lorna respectively. I yawned, stretched my arms, and thought about rejoining them, but decided not to when I heard someone entering the guild members' quarters. Curiosity got the best of me when I heard the sound of one wandering outside of the crew rooms, so I picked up my bone club – which had been lying next to the mat of dried grass that was my bed – and walked out into the narrow corridor. A cold draft blowing through the hallway made me shiver suddenly. For some reason, the guild during the night was a bit...creepy.

I strained my eyes against the gloom, but I could not see anything out of the ordinary. The sounds that I heard shortly before could no longer be heard now as well. Assuming that whoever it was had either gone back to sleep or left the sleeping areas, I decided it was not worth my time to follow them. Guild members could get into trouble if they were caught roaming the guild at this time. Besides, it was probably just my imagination, and getting more sleep sounded like a great idea anyway.

About an hour later, all of the guild members were roused. The first thing on the agenda for the day was food, so we all proceeded to the mess hall. There, we ate apples – the staple of meals around here – and assorted seeds. Sometimes bananas were available, but since they were only found in the Southeastern Islands and the Marine Resort, the expenses for ordering them were a bit steep. The fact that they were in high demand among other guilds did not help either. Still though, the combination of apples and seeds for a breakfast was pretty hardy. Not to mention that guild members usually eat better than a lot of other Pokémon, so I can't complain. After breakfast, we were all summoned into the main hall of the guild for the daily briefing. As usual, Guildmistress Kiri – an optimistic yet serious Ampharos from Shimmer Hill – was giving us a pep talk and explaining the day's objectives. Standing next to her was her second-in-command, a tall, wicked looking Scizor.

"Good morning fellow guild members," Kiri started in her usual cheerful manner. "I hope you are all looking forward to today because we have been receiving many job requests lately. As usual, you can find the descriptions for these missions posted over on the wall," she continued, gesturing over to the bulletin board to her left. Kiri paused for a moment, her expression and tone becoming serious. "However, I have noticed that many of these missions are bounties. It appears that the rate of crime has been going up lately, so I will ask any members taking such jobs to use the utmost caution. Criminals should not be underestimated as they are criminals for a reason. Some may just run away, as they are cowards, but others may try to incapacitate you, or worse. A few of these outlaws are even known to have an entourage of minions at their disposal, so don't just charge at them headfirst. Be cautious, don't get cocky, and having a partner or two might not be a bad idea. With those words in mind, I encourage you all to challenge yourselves, but don't go and get into something way over your head."

Leiko, who had been standing next to me the whole time, smirked in amusement at the Guildmistress' last statement. Other members murmured amongst each other.

"On a lighter note," Umeko, the Scizor second-in-command, piped in, "today is the third anniversary of Darkrai's defeat at the paws of Team Oblivion."

This bit of information was met with cheers from almost every Pokémon in the main hall. Some of them – including me – were mere kits at the time of Darkrai's plot to plunge the whole world into an apocalypse. Almost every kit in the towns and villages throughout the land knew about the stories of Team Oblivion, Grovyle the Thief, and the sinister Dusknoir. My favorite story would probably have to be the one where Dusknoir abducted Team Oblivion and brought them to the future to be executed. While there, Team Oblivion allied themselves with Grovyle and they all worked together to get back to the past and prevent the planet's paralysis. There were many other stories that I also liked, however. For example, the tale of their legendary journey through the Hidden Land and their confrontation with Primal Dialga.

"The meeting is concluded, good luck today," Umeko stated.

With that, the guild members rushed off towards the job bulletin. I could not help but wonder what the day had in store for me.


	2. Partners

When most of the guild members had gone off to register and prepare for their newest missions, I stepped up to the bulletin to examine what was left. Quite frankly, I did not really care what sort of job I got, just as long as it was doable. One of the envelopes pinned onto the board caught my eye, as it was a tad-bit off-color from the rest and wore some sort of official looking seal. I did not hesitate to grab and open it. The message inside read:

To Whom this May Concern:

The traveling legend enthusiast – Balin the Dragonite – was on his way to Shimmer Hill to give a lecture at the small town there, but he never showed up. He was due here yesterday morning and his lecture would have been in the town square during the evening. The last known sighting of Balin was at the mouth of Treeshroud Forest by an anonymous source. Apparently, he was seen going into the forest with another Pokémon. We have some ideas about what might have happened, but we hope we are wrong. Your objective is to search Treeshroud Forest for any sign of him and then either report to us in person or have your guild send in a report. The reward for Balin's successful return or a good piece of evidence that could lead us to his whereabouts is currently 20,000 Poké. This reward is subject to increase of course.

Best of Luck, Kirby, Sheriff of Shimmer Hill

This was surprising. I had heard about Balin before and knew that he was renowned throughout the land, but why would he just disappear? The letter seemed to imply that there could have been someone behind all of this. It seemed awfully strange to spirit away someone such as Balin, however. This mission sounded most interesting to me, it was after all not every day that one got to investigate the disappearance of one of such prestige. Besides, I had never been to Treeshroud Forest before, so all the more reason to go. Pleased with such an easy decision, I walked over to a desk near the door to the Guildmistress' study and got in the back of the line of Pokémon there. At the desk sat Umeko, who was having all of the guild members register their missions on a piece of paper. This was done to keep track of where all of the guild members were going and what sort of job they were undertaking. When their job was completed, or if they had failed it, she record this on the paper and it would then go into records. This was one of her responsibilities in the running of the guild. She was also the one that posted the missions on the board in the first place, but she never read any of them as they were usually sealed.

"Did you find anything interesting Kylie?" asked Lorna, who was in line right in front of me.

I turned my attention to my Vulpix friend.

"Yup, I am supposed to find someone who is missing in Treeshroud Forest," I replied.

I felt that telling her who that someone was was unnecessary, it would probably just start something.

"Oh," she replied, "all I got was a request to find a lost item."

I could tell from her tone that she was a bit disappointed.

"Well, it could be worse."

"How so?"

"You could have gotten an escort mission."

This prompted her to smile.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said, stifling a giggle. "Those can be so annoying sometimes."

I agreed, it seemed ninety-percent of the clients for escort missions had no common sense and would just wander off if you were not paying attention to them. Seriously, grab your brains before you leave home next time.

"Next," Umeko said as the line moved right along.

Lorna handed her mission letter to Umeko, filled out her part of the paper, and then turned back to me.

"I've gotta go now, see you later."

"Bye," I replied.

Being next in line, I stepped up to the desk and handed the letter to Umeko. She scanned the contents, her eyes going wide as she read.

"This is most serious indeed," she said finally in a low voice. "It will probably be best to keep this quiet for now. I will announce it during tomorrow morning's meeting. Do you have a partner for this job?"

"No," I replied.

"Hmm, well if it is okay with you, I will assign you one. Seeing as this mission is in Treeshroud Forest, you probably will not be back here until sometime tomorrow. Due to this, I would feel more comfortable if you had a partner to rely on and vice versa if anything happened."

"Understood."

Now that I thought about it, a partner did sound like a good idea. Umeko quickly scanned the area behind me and then called to one of the Pokémon.

"Hey, Rundas! I got a mission you might be interested in."

I heard the footsteps of someone approaching behind me; the air around me suddenly growing chilly. I turned around to meet the new arrival, and what I saw was a Pokémon I had never seen before. It was a light blue quadruped with elongated diamond-shaped ears and a similarly elongated diamond-shaped tail that idly swished through the air. Its paws were dark blue and it had two patches of fur on its back of the same color. What was almost like a second set of ears hung from its head, yet they were not. Its expression was calm, yet it had a confident air around it.

"Kylie," Umeko began, "this is Rundas. He is a Glaceon and also a skilled bounty hunter." She then looked at the Glaceon. "Rundas, this is Kylie. She is one of the guild's recruits."

The Glaceon looked at me – almost as if he was sizing me up – before finally saying, "A pleasure."

Despite what could be called a feminine appearance, Rundas' voice eliminated any doubts about his gender. I nodded at him, unsure of what to say.

"You two seem to get along okay at first sight," Umeko mused. "Here, take a look at this."

She handed Rundas the letter from Sheriff Kirby. He read over the letter and then looked at both of us skeptically.

"I'm a bounty hunter, not a sleuth."

"Rundas, this is a mission of great importance. I know that it may not be one of the bounties you are used to taking, but I don't think that a small break from those will kill you," Umeko responded.

"Umeko, I only take bounties. Period. I don't do rescues, I don't do lost items, and I sure as heck don't do escorts."

"Ah, but you didn't say anything about investigations," Umeko replied.

"That sort of work is for Kirby and his deputies," Rundas stated dismissively.

"Look at it this way, if you can find some lead on what happened to Balin, you would be rewarded a large sum of money. As if that wasn't enough, you could use this lead to track down those responsible – because if you want my opinion, it looks like an abduction. Once you find them, all you have to do is arrest their tails, and bam, there's more money in your paws. Now, you are seriously going to turn down an offer like that? Are you crazy?"

"You make my job sound easy," Rundas mumbled, looking down at the ground in thought. After a few moments, he sighed and looked back up at Umeko.

"Okay, you win lady."

"I had a feeling you would see things my way. Now, Kylie here will be accompanying you on this mission and – "

"Whoa, wait a second," Rundas started in shock, "I always work alone and you know that! You never mentioned anything about us being partners. Besides, that means I will have to split the reward with her and the guild. No, I don't think so."

"What's wrong, you can't handle sharing the glory? Don't be such an arrogant old jerk Rundas, it is just for this one mission."

"I don't care if it is just for one mission, I ALWAYS work alone. Partners just get in the way anyhow."

Umeko rolled her eyes. "Tch, that's no way to look at it. It's just an investigation."

"I don't care, I am not taking her along with me."

What was up with this guy? He seemed calm moments ago when I first met him, but when the topic of partners came up, he had completely lost his cool. Was it that sensitive of a subject, or did the Glaceon just like getting his way? Working together wouldn't be all that bad would it? I had accompanied both Leiko and Lorna on missions before in the past, and all three of us had enjoyed each other's company.

"Okay, you want to work alone, fine. Too bad you are passing up 20,000 Poké, though. Find another mission, this one belongs to Kylie." Umeko growled. Rundas' eye twitched at this and he fixed the crimson bug with a venomous glare.

"Fine, she can come with me," Rundas growled back, "but under one condition. She has to be able to defend herself from any possible foes we may encounter. I will not dedicate my time to protecting her, she better be able to fight if we have to."

"Of course I can fight!" I exclaimed.

I was able to wield the bone I carried around as a club with some efficiency, although, I could not throw it and have it return to me. Despite this, I was sure I could wallop something hard enough to do some damage. Rundas glanced at me.

"Very well then." He then looked back at Umeko. "Don't you ever expect me to make these exceptions again," he gruffly stated.

"Don't worry about it," Umeko replied in an exasperated tone.

Rundas glanced at me again.

"What are you standing there for? Let's get ready!"


	3. Preparations

Rundas and I began walking down one of the corridors leading away from the main hall. Before we set out on our mission, we were going to pay a visit to the guild's quartermaster, Felix. Now, Felix was an interesting fellow. He was calm and collected most of the time, yet he was also a bit cynical when it came to his charge. This was because the packs and items he lent out to the guild members almost never made it back in one piece. With items like berries and seeds, their fragile nature made it hard to keep them in good shape. Due to this, he usually just let guild members keep any unused berries and seeds. However, because of this, his supply of such items had to be constantly replenished.

Felix was used to items such a packs, bands, and scarves being returned to him in poor condition. He even had wonder orbs returned to him that were cracked or even broken, which sometimes damaged the supplies around them even further due to the orbs' powers. In order to fix this problem, Felix started crafting orb cases out of blocks of wood on his spare time. He lined the interior of each case with thick material and fashioned a metal latch to keep the case firmly sealed. Each case could hold ten orbs. Needless to say, the orb issue was solved. One could also just alternatively purchase new items from the quartermaster for fairly high prices or second-hand ones for a discounted price.

We stopped in front of the wooden door that marked the entrance to the supply room. I swung the door open and held it for Rundas.

"Oh, thanks," he said as he passed by, glancing at me.

I could have sworn I saw a brief hint of a smile, but if it was there, it quickly disappeared. I promptly followed the Glaceon as he wandered over to a table with a large selection of assorted items. It was surprisingly one of the few tables in the room that did not have Pokémon swarming around it. From the table, he grabbed a satchel and six apples. He then took a smaller satchel from the table and put the apples inside of it along with two small bags of plain seeds, four oran berries, and two pecha berries. He set this satchel aside while he stuffed the other with a length of rope, some cloth bandages, a flint and steel, and a map in a case. I noticed that he did not grab any wonder orbs, but I assumed that it was because they were expensive.

"We're set to go, is there anything else that you wanted?"

"Oh, no I'm fine," I replied.

"Suit yourself," he said indifferently as he grabbed both satchels.

I followed Rundas as he made his way over to Felix's check-out counter and got in line. After what seemed like ages, we finally got up to the front and were greeted by the quartermaster.

"Hey Rundas, how can I help you?" the Wartortle said in a friendly tone.

"I would like to purchase both of these bags and the contents within," Rundas replied as he placed both satchels on the counter.

Felix looked inside of them and took note of their contents.

After some calculation Felix said, "That will come to 3060 Poké."

Rundas opened a pouch that was around his neck, and from this, he withdrew three large gold coins and two smaller ones. He then placed these on the table; Felix took them and threw them in a drawer on his side of the counter.

"Alright, you're all set," the turtle said.

"Thanks Felix."

"Your welcome." Felix then looked at me and asked, "How can I help you Kylie?"

"Oh, I'm with Rundas," I responded.

I did not even have to look at Felix's face to tell that he was thoroughly shocked.

"Don't you work...alone?" He inquired in a low voice.

"If it were any other day, I would be working alone. Today, I am not, and I can assure you that you will not see me with another partner again." Rundas replied in a slightly irritated tone.

He better get used to me because I was starting to get the feeling that this mission might be a bit more difficult than I had originally anticipated.

"Hmm, I see. Well, good luck on the bounty anyway."

"...I'm not on a bounty either." Rundas' tone betrayed even more irritation.

Felix once again had a surprised look run across his face.

"Did I hear you right? Not only do you have a little buddy today, but you are also pursuing a different sort of job? Arceus, is our world coming to an end...again?" Felix remarked.

"First of all, we are not buddies, and about the job, I'm just doing it for the money."

"Well, you do still think like a hunter at least. That's one thing that hasn't changed today."

"Indeed," Rundas murmured. "We best be going now, thanks again Felix."

"Your welcome, and good luck."

With that, Rundas grabbed both of the satchels he had just purchased and tossed the lighter one to me. I donned it and then followed him out of the supply room. Once we had arrived in the main hall, we made our way past the other guild members and down a large corridor towards the front, which led to a couple of large wooden doors. Just several steps more and we were enveloped in the fresh morning air. A cool breeze was blowing through the few small trees on Mt. Travail and the sun shined pleasantly down upon us.

"So Kylie, do you know which way we need to go in order to reach Treeshround Forest?" Rundas questioned smoothly.

I got the feeling that he already knew which direction to take, so he was just pestering me or something. No matter, If he wanted a rise out of me he was not going to get one.

"Perhaps if I had the map, I could lay our course out for us," I shot back with equal smoothness.

His expression told me that this was not the answer that he had been expecting, but he soon regained his composure.

"Okay then, here."

Rundas pulled the map out of his bag and tossed it at me. I hoped the entire mission was not going to be like this, I believe we had enough to think about without the conflict. I caught it and rolled it open. It took me but a second to find our location (because the Travail Guild is marked on the map, tee-hee) and it took me another brief moment to realize that we needed to head Northwest, which was behind us due to the fact that we were on the southern side of the mountain.

"Our quickest course would be to head up the trail and continue down the other side of the mountain. Once we reach this point we should then head Northwest through the valleys and continue on until we come to the southern border of Treeshroud Forest," I declared in a scholarly manner.

"Okay then, lead on," Rundas commanded.

If he thought that he could boss me around, he had another thing coming. Regardless, I started up the trail with Rundas close behind me. Our mission had finally begun.


	4. Treeshroud Forest

**I will not even try to come up with an excuse for how long this took. To tell you the truth, I had decided that I would probably never finish this a while ago, but now I want to work on it again. I can't promise its completion, however, as I feel I am not cut out to be a writer. Despite that, I want to go somewhere with these characters. I ended up scrapping the original chapter I had been working on and restarting with a new idea.**

A good portion of the day had past since we had left Mt. Travail. By the looks of it, we would probably have to find a spot to spend the night and then head back in the morning. This wasn't uncommon for exploration teams and guild members, though. Unless your destination was relatively close to your base, most of your day could be spent just getting there if you only travel on foot. You would probably then end up spending the rest of it doing whatever job you got. On the contrary, if you or your companions could fly or teleport, then your would obviously have it easier. Rundas and I obviously did not have that luxury.

By this point, we only had four apples left, but that did not bother me too much. We could always find more food in the forest if we had too. Rundas had more or less stayed silent the entire trip, but that did not bother me too much. I was happy enough just to be out in the wilderness, and it is not like we had anything to talk about in the first place.

I could see the edge of what was probably Treeshroud Forest up ahead. I will admit, it was different from the mundane forest I had expected. All of the trees stood proudly, yet it was apparent that they were all ancient. Their thick foliage intertwined near their tops and formed a canopy that almost entirely blocked out the sun. Since I lived in the mountains, trees of such grandeur were rare.

"If you would stop gazing up at the trees, we might be able to get somewhere," Rundas grumbled.

"Oh, pardon me," I said sarcastically, turning to him.

I was done trying to be polite with the Glaceon. He stared at me, but remained silent. I turned away and continued on into the forest, the sound of movement from behind told me he was still following.

Now that we were finally here, what next? It's not like we knew where Balin had entered the forest, so looking for footprints to follow would be difficult. I thought maybe I could ask some local Pokémon if they had seen a Dragonite in the forest within the last day or so. If they had, then it had to have been Balin. Knowing what sort of Pokémon he had been with would have been helpful too. I scanned the dark forest for anything moving, but I did not see anything. Actually, the forest was a whole lot quieter than I had expected, the only noise coming from the breezes moving through the trees. I shrugged and continued on deeper into the woods, but I made sure to keep an eye out for other Pokémon.

The silence persisted between Rundas and I as we continued. I wondered what he was thinking about or if he was even considering what our next course of action should be. So far, I had been doing all of the work, though to be fair, there hadn't really been that much to do in the first place. The rustling of a nearby bush caught my attention and I stopped in my tracks, glancing over at it. The bush went still, then all of a sudden a black, winged creature swooped out from it and landed beside us. It was definitely a bug of some sort, but I had never seen its kind before. One of its pale arms had some sort of sticky residue around the end, which it licked at before turning its attention over to us. Rundas took and aggressive stance right away and growled at the newcomer. The bug's red orange eyes widened and it hopped backwards.

"Please, I mean you no harm," it whimpered meekly.

"What do you want, and be quick about it," Rundas demanded.

"Um...would you by any chance be an exploration team?"

"Nope, we're not. Anyway, we have business to take care of, so beat it," Rundas answered hastily.

The bug cocked its head at this. "What sort of business? I might be able to help you out." It had a hopeful tone in its voice.

"Not your business, and no, there is little you could do to help us. Just get out of here, you're annoying."

The bug's feathery antennae drooped. "Oh p-p-please give me a chance, I know I could be useful. Just tell me what it is you are up to."

"Nope. I don't like you, and that Cubone doesn't like you either. Now, go get yourself caught in an Ariados' web," Rundas said dismissively.

The bug whimpered again and its antennae drooped further. It sadly stared down at the ground and kicked a twig. That statement was just uncalled for.

"I'll speak for myself Rundas," I hissed, fixing him with a glare. Looking back at the bug, I said "We are looking for someone who went missing here in the forest. Have you by any chance seen a large, orange dragon here within the last day or so?" The bug put the tip of its arm to its mouth and hummed thoughtfully.

"You know what, I think I did," it replied. "Yes, two days ago now," it affirmed, its tone perking up a bit, "I was resting on the branch of a large tree, when I heard voices from down below. Curious, I got up to see what it was all about. One of the Pokémon was the tall, orange dragon, and while I could not tell what the other was, it was a whole lot smaller and the dragon appeared to be following it."

I couldn't believe this, the first Pokémon we encountered had indeed seen Balin. We got some lead right off the bat, how lucky for us.

"Do you know what part of the forest you saw them in?" I asked.

"Well, I do not think it was too far from here. I could take you there if you would like," the bug offered.

"That would be kind of you," I replied. Out of the corner of my vision, I thought I saw Rundas rolling his eyes.

"Okay then, follow me," The bug chirped happily, darting off into the forest.

"Hey, not so fast," I called, running to keep up. The bug stopped and looked over its shoulder.

"Sorry," it mumbled.

"Don't worry about it, please continue."

The bug once again took flight, but this time, it moved at a slower pace.

"So, uh, where are you from," it asked.

"Mt. Travail," I answered.

"Oh, I've only been down that way a few times in my entire life. Seeing as you're not an exploration team, are you one of the guild members then?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"So what's it like, you know, being apart of an exploration guild and all?"

"It beats a normal life, I guess. I joined about a year ago now, so I am a relatively new member."

"What about your companion," the bug asked warily, gesturing behind me to Rundas. "Why's he so mean?"

"Oh, don't mind him. Today just hasn't been his day," I said in a quiet tone.

"...I see, is he a guild member too?" Before I could answer, Rundas cut in.

"Hey, how close are we?"

The bug quickly looked around at the surroundings.

"Oh don't worry, we're almost there," it replied.

"The sooner the better," The Glaceon grumbled.

A few minutes went by in total silence, save for the bug's flapping wings. It soon landed and looked around.

"Well, this is the place," it exclaimed, turning to us.

"Thank you," I said.

The bug blinked at me and bowed its head.

"You're welcome." Raising its head, it leered at Rundas. "See, I turned out to be useful after all. I believe you owe me an apology."

There was confidence in the bug's tone all of a sudden.

"...Fine, I'm sorry," Rundas sighed. "Now will you please leave?"

"I'm afraid he won't be going anywhere," a voice erupted from a nearby bush, "and neither will you, for that matter."

I looked around the area, bewildered. At that moment, a tall, green creature with a red, bill-like mouth and a lily pad on its head as well as some sort of red bird who's tail resembled a bag stepped out from behind a couple of trees and closed in on the three of us; both of them were wearing black, cloth masks. A cream-colored feline sporting a gold coin on its head and a similar mask to the other two leaped out of the bush.

"Nyahahaha," it laughed, as it joined its companions. "You were all just as easily fooled as that Dragonite was." From the sound of its voice I was pretty sure that this Pokémon was a male.

"Where is he," Rundas demanded.

"Oh don't worry, he is safe for now. His ransom will have to be payed sooner or later to ensure this, however." The cat shifted his attention to the bug. "Good work, Blackjack."

"Thank you, Poker," the bug replied.

"What? You're with them, aren't you? I trusted you," I almost shouted.

"I'm sorry Kylie," he said, "Business is business."

"How...did you know my name?"

"I saw you early this morning, when I accidentally woke you up. I got into the guild via your window, but you started to wake, so I flew out of your room and hid in the darkness of the corridor. I later saw you take the Sheriff's letter. I knew it was going to end up at Mt. Travail, all I had to do was see who would accept to job. Finally, I secretly followed you and the Glaceon from the guild all the way out here, and the rest is history." The bug then moved over and stood next to the feline, the other two flanking them on both sides. "I will regret having to do this to you. You were civil to me, after all. Life just isn't fair, is it Kylie?"

"You no good scum," Rundas growled.

"Enough of this pointless chit-chat," the feline piped in. "We shall now proceed to mug and send send both of you cryin' back to your mountain like little kits. You can then tell your guild that if the ransom is not payed," a large grin crossed the feline's face, "something unfortunate might happen to the good legend expert."

"Do you have a death wish, Meowth?" Rundas sneered. "You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you?"

"It hardly matters," the cat said, unsheathing his claws, "soon you will both be wishing you never came here. Baccarat, Roulet?"

"Yes, boss," the other two Pokémon replied.

"Get them."


	5. The Quartet

As soon as Poker issued his command the green creature charged at Rundas. I did not see what happened next, though, because Blackjack spread his wings, leapt up into the air, and swooped towards me. I quickly dropped to the ground to avoid the bug's attack, tightly clutching my bone club. I got up and turned around to see the insect preparing to make another pass. I raised my weapon threateningly and leered at my assailant. He swooped in again, but this time I was ready. When I felt he was close enough, I swung my club at his body. He swerved out of the way at the last second and unleashed a gust of wind with his wings, knocking me off balance. He took this opportunity to get in close to me and delivered a punch straight into my gut. Lucky for me, there was not as much power behind it as there could have been, but it still hurt like hell. I could not help but cough from being winded in such a way.

Blackjack did not let up on his assault, however. He darted in close to me again and threw another punch, connecting with the side of my helmet and jarring my head a little. I swung my club at him once again, this time I got results. He dropped out of the air and landed right in front of me, prone. Without hesitation, I brought my club down on one of his wings and back-pawed him across the face with my free-arm. I then swiftly delivered a kick into his side and clobbered his wing with my club again for good measure. He let out a miserable groan from the abuse. I can't say I was too happy about having to do this to another Pokémon, but he did attack me.

I quickly looked over at Rundas to see how he was fairing. The green creature was on the ground, I could not tell if it was unconscious or not. Rundas was dueling the Meowth claw-to-claw, both parties already had visible wounds. It was at this moment that I realized the strange red bird was nowhere in sight. If Rundas hadn't already taken care of it...

"Oh no," I groaned at the realization.

Almost as if it was on cue, I felt something collide with my back and explode, throwing me forward and away from the fallen bug. Luckily, I was able to keep a grip on my club. Pushing myself up, I turned around and looked to see where that had come from. Sure enough, the red bird was glaring at me from behind a tree. It waddled out from its hiding place and reached into its tail-bag, withdrawing a small, white box of some sort. It chucked it at me and, realizing that this couldn't be good, I quickly backed away. The box landed where I had been standing moments before and exploded, kicking up twigs and soil. The red bird then quickly hustled over to its comrade and whipped out another box. It placed this next to Blackjack and slowly stepped away. What was it up to now? Wouldn't that box just hurt him even more? To my surprise, this box did not explode. Instead, it dissolved into a white light, which gently enveloped him. The insect sat up and jumped into the air once again. His wing was obviously still hurting him, as he was not as steady in the air has he had been before. Great, just great. Now I had to take them both on by myself.

A green light started to form in between Blackjack's arms and it didn't take long for it to grow. The red bird reached inside of its bag once again, pulling out another box and preparing to throw it at me. Seeing as I didn't have any sort of ranged attacks, I decided to close the distance between us. The bird threw its box in my direction, but I had anticipated this, so I changed my course and ran at Blackjack instead. He let loose the energy he had been charging as a green ball of light. It flew towards me, so I dived to the side and switched my focus back to the bird. I was not too far away from it now, so I raised my club for the strike and moved in. It cringed and began to back away, but I was already on top of it. Before I could strike, though, the insect tackled me from the side.

This was frustrating. How was I supposed to focus on taking one of them down if the other kept interfering? I struggled under the bug's weight to throw him off of me, but it was no good. As an alternative, I resorted to flailing around with my club. A yelp from behind told me I got a hit in, but he did not budge. Seeing as I was lying belly first on the ground, I got another idea. I jabbed my elbow up into the bug's gut, which momentarily loosened his hold on me, but he still remained steadfast.

"Roulet! Get over here and help me," Blackjack cried.

The red bird waddled over and looked down at us. "Well, what should I do?"

"I don't know, anything! Just find some way to keep her here on the ground!"

"I guess I could sit on her..."

"No, that won't work! I'm heavier than you and I'm still having problems keeping her down!"

"Sit on this," I growled, using my bone club to sweep the bird's feet out from underneath it.

It dropped straight down and landed on its rear. I then jabbed my free-arm's elbow up into the bug once again and wiggled the best I could to get him off of me. My tactics worked this time around, so I quickly got up and struck the bird across the head. Its eyes rolled back in its skull and it fell backwards, unconscious. Hopefully, it wasn't going to be getting up again any time soon.

I turned around to be greeted by another tackle from Blackjack, knocking me onto my back. He pulled back one of his arms for a punch and brought it down into my chest. He repeated this a couple more times before bringing his head down and biting my right shoulder. I yelled out and ground my teeth together from the pain. A surge of fury overtook me and I slammed my helmeted head into his face. Wailing in agony and clutching his injury, I brought my bone in between us shoved him off of me. Using his moment of vulnerability to my advantage, I proceeded to bludgeon him over and over again until he collapsed in a pitiful heap on the ground. Seeing the damage I had done, I cringed in disgust and backed away. His whimpering told me he was still conscious, but I wished that he wasn't.

Turning away from him, I looked towards where Rundas had been and saw that he was still in heated battle with the Meowth. It looked to me like the latter was wearing out, though, while Rundas still had energy in his eyes. The cat swiped one of its paws at him as he preparing an attack, but he ducked it and bit the cat's leg instead. Poker kicked him in the face to remove his grip, but he had already let go and was in the process of moving back, so it looked like he did not take too much damage. All the feline accomplished was throwing itself out of balance, which Rundas took advantage of by ramming the cat and sending it sprawling to the ground. He stood over his victim triumphantly and charged up a pale, blue orb in his mouth. He then released the energy in the form of a beam, striking his foe point blank. He looked over my way and stared at my two fallen opponents. A thoughtful look crossed his face.

"I'm surprised," he said, "I thought they were going to take you down. I guess they just weren't as formidable as their leader."

I was not sure if this was supposed to be a compliment or not, but I decided to treat it as one. No point taking offense to it, that wasn't going to accomplish anything.

"Uh, thanks," I sighed sadly. I wasn't very proud of what I had done to my two foes.

I noticed that the other creature Rundas had fought was nowhere to be seen. Puzzled, I decided to ask about it.

"Oh, the Lombre," he answered. "While I was dealing with the Meowth he got up and ran. No honor among thieves, I tell you."

"Doesn't that bother you a little, that he escaped?"

"Eh, not too much. You can't catch 'em all. Besides, we have their leader now and that is what counts. When dealing with outlaws, all you have to usually do is cut off the head."

I took his word for it since I didn't really know much about bounty hunting and outlaws in the first place. I never took bounties myself because I felt they were too dangerous. Leiko enjoyed them and Lorna sometimes accompanied her, but I never did. I preferred just finding things and exploring the nearby mountains.

"Hey, behind you," Rundas warned.

I turned around just in time to get hit in the chest by a green ball of energy. Once again, I was knocked to the ground. That seemed to be happening to me a lot today. The energy from the attack had singed by scales a bit and irritated were I had been punched earlier, but no long-term damage had been done. I came back to my senses and sat up, only to see that the bug was up yet again. Before Rundas could do anything, he glided over to his still unconscious companion and reached inside of the bird's tail-bag, pulling out a blue, glass orb. With one last look at me, he shattered the orb against the ground and a bright, yellow light consumed both Pokémon. When the light faded they were gone.

"Ah, they had an escape orb," Rundas grumbled, "Oh well, I only have enough rope for one anyway." He looked towards Poker, who had been trying to slink away. "Hey, not so fast," he called, unleashing another one of the pale beams from his mouth. The Meowth took the beam to the back and toppled over. "Why are you in such a hurry to leave? You and I have much to discuss."


	6. Interrogation

The battle had worn me out, but the wounds I had sustained had remained relatively minor thanks to my scaly hide. Due to this, I did not suffer as much as I could have when I was hit by the energy attacks. My injuries still ached, however, and Blackjack's bite had actually tore into my flesh. It was also my right shoulder he had sunk his mandibles into, so my club-arm was affected as a result. Lucky for me, Rundas had packed some bandages in his satchel, so I used the smallest of them to wrap around my injured shoulder and part of my chest. Then I ate one of the oran berries from my own satchel. Contrary to popular belief, although oran berries enhanced one's natural healing for a few hours they did not heal the wounds themselves. They did have a sort of natural painkiller in them though, so that helped. Sitrus berries had a similar effect, but it was much more potent. It was even said that one who ate a sitrus berry each day had a much lower chance of becoming ill. Unfortunately, sitrus berries were quite rare.

"Release me at once! You'll be sorry if you don't," Poker demanded.

"Nah, you look pretty good against that tree, I think I'll leave you right where you are," Rundas retorted, stepping back and observing our captive.

We had used the rope from his satchel to tie the Meowth up to a large tree. Securing the feline had been easier than I had thought it would be. Of course, I had to take into consideration that he had received quite a beating before hand. Anyway, Rundas had told me to hang back and watch while he attempted to get answers out of Poker. Although it felt like he just wanted me out of his way I had no experience with interrogation anyway so I was more than happy to comply and use my bone to take some of the weight off my feet.

"I have friends you know," the Meowth growled.

"Ah, I see," Rundas chuckled, "You think they are going to be coming to your rescue, don't you? My advice to you is to not get your hopes up."

"What makes you say that?" the Meowth angrily questioned.

Rundas moved in closer to the captive and looked him right in the eye. His features changed from those of amusement to a serious frown.

"I know all about your type," he started in a low voice. "You're all vicious, backstabbing little bastards. They'll see your capture as an opportunity to split up your share of any possible ransom money amongst themselves and let you take the fall for them. Don't you even think for a second that your mind games will work on me. I've dealt with your kind once too many already."

"You seem awfully confident in that assumption," Poker sneered.

"I'm rarely ever wrong about these things. Like I said, I know how your kind works."

A smirk crossed the feline's face just then and he glared back into the visage of his captor. "What if I told you that I masterminded this operation?"

"Then I'd say you were an idiot to tell me that and it would still change nothing. Assuming that you are the mastermind, I now know that all I have to do is question you to get the information I need and then turn you over to the Sheriff," Rundas stated as if he had already given this speech before. "If you are the mastermind, you have already lost now by allowing yourself to be captured. I've successfully decapitated your little group of thugs by capturing you and now they will fall into chaos. Besides, if I am unable to extract Balin's location from you I'm sure that the Sheriff and his deputies won't have the same problem. After all, they can be quite...persuasive."

"How do you know that my thugs won't just kill Balin now that I have been captured," Poker hastily questioned.

"Because I know that your greedy lot will instead make the dumb move of raising the ransom, buying us more time to get the information we need out of you and make a crackdown on your group. Besides there is no way they would kill him anyway. You are just in this for the money and killing him won't get you or your underlings anything. Face it, you've already lost and now you will either tell me where the Dragonite is or I will take you to Sheriff Kirby immediately."

"Gah, you're bluffing," Poker muttered, "Shimmer Hill is miles from here, you couldn't possibly make it there on foot before the sun disappears."

"Probably not, but I could always march you through the night. If we started now and avoided passing through the mountains we could be at Shimmer Hill before midday tomorrow, assuming we don't encounter any hostiles that is and I am sadly forced to leave you to your fate."

"You coward," the Meowth spat, "You would abandon a bounty just to flee a fight that you could possibly lose! Where's your sense of risk!"

"On the contrary, money is useless if you are not around to use it," Rundas replied cooly, but his tone quickly turned aggressive. "Furthermore, how dare you call me a coward when it is you who is hiding behind the lie of masterminding Balin's disappearance! Did you even think for a second that I believed that load of shit! You already proved to me during our conversation that you lack the qualities of the typical criminal mind."

Poker hung his head in defeat for a moment before looking back up at Rundas with a malicious expression.

"It would be sad if something happened to your companion, wouldn't it Glaceon?"

Rundas' whole body tensed up at these words, yet when he spoke he maintained a calm voice.

"The Cubone means nothing to me. Besides, I do not see how you will do anything to her from behind bars."

"Struck a nerve, didn't I?" The Meowth flashed Rundas a smug smile before closing his eyes and letting out a sigh.

Both of the Pokémon remained silent after this. After a minute of forest ambience had passed, Rundas backed off and sat away from the tree. He kept his gaze firmly locked on Poker, however. Even though I could not be sure if Rundas had been bluffing or not when he said I meant nothing to him, it still felt like a slap in the face. When I thought about it though, I could see why I meant nothing to him. We had only known each other for a matter of hours after all and I had to admit, I wasn't going to lose sleep over his well-being either. One could say that our feeling of indifference towards one another was mutual. We just happened to be on the same job, and when it was over we would part ways and never bother each other again. Wow, that was a pretty cold way to look at our relationship, but from what I could see, that was the way it was.

Now, in regards to our job, I realized that Rundas had failed to extract Balin's location from the Meowth. I decided to talk to him about this.

"It doesn't really matter now," he replied in a soft, almost melancholy voice. "I could use more forceful tactics, but why bother? That's not something you would want to see anyway."

He was right, that was something I didn't want to see. His statement earlier about the Sheriff and his deputies being "persuasive" came to mind after his mention of "forceful tactics".

"The Sheriff doesn't torture captured criminals, does he," I asked.

"He interrogates them, but I wouldn't call it torture," Rundas explained.

"What about you then?"

"I have no problem getting a little rough with my quarries," Rundas stated, contempt lacing his voice, "Instead of being good and honest creatures they chose to go down a path where they come before all others. They gain wealth and power all at the expense of other Pokémon and they would never go out of their way to help those in need. To them, we are either a tool to get what they want or an obstacle. I have a hatred towards outlaws, and so that is why I hunt them."

I pondered his words for a moment, and then I realized something was now different about Rundas compared to when I first met him. His confidence had been shaken. I couldn't really tell what had gotten to him however, so I dismissed the chain of thought and got back into the conversation.

"Isn't it rather hypocritical of you to accuse them of using others as tools for wealth when you more or less do the same with them? You hunt them down and then you are paid for turning them in," I commented.

"You didn't understand my point though," Rundas growled. "Unlike outlaws, who just focus on themselves, I go out and do the world a favor by bringing them all to justice. You know what, when it comes down to it the money is nice and all, but just seeing those ruffians put away is almost enough compensation for me."

I could have pointed out to Rundas that he told Felix he was only in this job for the money, but I felt it would not change anything for the better so I decided not to bring it up. Heck, I had only known the bounty hunter for a matter of hours so who was I to judge him anyway. I knew as much about him as he knew about me.

"So, what are you gonna do now hunter? You gonna turn me in and claim your sweet, sweet reward," Poker taunted from his tree. "As it so happens, I know all about your type too. You have such a craving for money and recognition that there is nothing you won't hunt. You don't even care if your quarry was falsely accused or not, it's not your problem and it pays." Rundas turned his attention back towards the Meowth. The look on his face was one of growing rage. "Then, at the end of the day you tell yourself that you were doing the right thing, makin' the world a better place and all of that idealistic crap. However, you know deep down inside that you are no better than the ones you hunt. You share their greed, and it scares you. At least a mercenary doesn't try to hide the truth from others; they know that their only allegiance is to the almighty Poké."

"I've heard quite enough out of you," the Glaceon roared, charging at our captive while his tail took on a metallic aura.

With one quick motion he twisted his body and smacked the feline across the side of his head. Poker's eyes immediately rolled back and his body went limp. I stared in horror at what my partner had just done.

"Y-y-you killed him," I stammered, quickly backing away from the scene. "H-how...w-w-why...he was defenseless!"

"Oh stop your sniveling," Rundas barked, "All I did was knock him one; he'll be fine!" I looked at the Meowth's body for any sign of life, but it remained still. "He got what was coming to him anyway," he spat. "I saw what you did to the Mothim. That was no different than this; we both acted on our anger." I hung my head in shame at the mention of the beatdown. That really was not like me, I was usually able to remain level headed in battles, yet that Mothim gaining my trust and turning out to be an outlaw coupled with him biting me...I just snapped.

The hunter walked around to the back of the tree and untied the knot. Gripping the rope in his mouth, he uncoiled it from around the tree and let Poker's body drop to the ground. I nervously walked up to it and to my relief I noticed that his chest was softly rising and falling.

"See," Rundas stated, "He's fine. Now let's go."

"But what are we going to do about him though? Are we going to leave him," I asked. To be honest, I didn't really care too much for the feline's well-being. What got to me though was how Rundas had no problem with attacking a defenseless Pokémon in such a potentially lethal way.

"After all we've been through? Are you kidding, he's coming with us."

The Glaceon bundled the robe up and drug it over to the unconscious Meowth. He skillfully manipulated the rope with his paws and tied the other Pokémon's arms behind his back. Uncoiling the rest of the rope, he rolled the Meowth up, snugged up the rope, and tied another not to secure him. He did leave some of the rope untied, however. I assumed this was so the Meowth could be lead or dragged.

"Give me your satchel," Rundas instructed. I didn't see why he wanted it, but I had already taken what I needed from it so it did not see any harm in giving it to him. He moved all of the contents into his and stuffed the my empty one inside as well. "How's your arm," he asked.

"It's been better," I replied.

"Do you think you can drag the Meowth until he wakes up?"

"Possibly..."

"Good," he answered curtly.

"I didn't say I could!"

"Try anyway."

I grabbed the rope with both paws while still tightly holding onto my bone club and gave it a tug. The Meowth moved only a matter of inches. I decided to try again and threw my weight into it this time. I thankfully got the cat moving at a slow but steady pace. Rundas turned away from me and walked started walking off.

"Where are you going," I asked.

"Mt. Travail," he replied quickly.

"Are you sure that's the right way?"

"Yup. Hope you can keep up."

Wow, no wonder this guy worked alone. Not only was he moody, he was also rather gruff. I had to wonder if he had always been like this or if there had been a time when he was different. Regardless, I was happy that this mission was almost over. I let out a sigh and continued dragging Poker along. How I was looking forward to tomorrow, when I would be back at the guild and out of Rundas' fur. Then I could hang out with Pokémon who actually liked me instead of viewing me as a burden.

What was left of the day was spent following Rundas. The Meowth even came-to, so all I had to do was keep hold of his rope as he followed behind us. Rundas suggested that I should pull him off his feet the moment he tried anything funny. I didn't have to do this once. Actually, Poker remained silent for the entire trip. When the last light of the day started to disappear we stopped at the opening of a mountain valley and set up camp. Well, there wasn't really anything to set up but we did tie off our captive's rope to a rather large log. Rundas even placed a sizable rock on the free rope in order to get rid of any slack that the cat could use to his advantage. I decided to sleep sitting against the log while Rundas found a large boulder nearby to curl up on.

Before I could get settled down though, Rundas told me that we were going to take turns watching the Meowth while the other got sleep. He went first while I dozed, but I didn't really get any quality sleep. Then it was my turn. Despite how tired I was, my first shift went alright I guess. When it came around to my second shift, however, I could barely keep my eyes open. Oh how I wished that I had a chesto berry. That definitely would have stopped me from falling asleep on the job.


End file.
